By Jeremy Gorner
The Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO, Ill. - Chicago police seized an estimated $900,000 in drugs on the Southwest Side on Wednesday and charged a 25-year-old man with felony possession of five kilograms of cocaine, officials said.
Officers from the narcotics and gang investigation section had set up a stakeout outside the home of Giovani Zamora, of the 5500 block of South Kildare Avenue, where they learned he would be dealing the drugs and carrying them in his van, Officer Amina Greer said.
Officers followed Zamora in his van and pulled him over Tuesday afternoon in Summit. There, they confiscated the five kilograms (11.1 pounds) of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $625,000, Greer said.
Further investigation led the officers to another location, in the 7300 block of South Albany Avenue, where they confiscated 1 kilogram of cocaine valued at roughly $126,000, 15 kilograms of marijuana with an estimated worth about $90,000 and 350 grams of brown heroin worth about $35,000, Greer said.
Zamora had not been charged in connection with the drugs at the second address, likely because the first was worth much more, Officer JoAnn Taylor said. Zamora is scheduled to appear in Cook County Criminal Court May 2.
Tribune staff reporter Emma Graves Fitzsimmons contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 Chicago Tribune